Ground-launched cruise missiles are not the main military issue, as their effect on strategic stability remains limited. Greater problems will arise as soon as Russia and the US start the testing, production and deployment of intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Whilst unbridgeable differences regarding the Ban Treaty exist, the urgent need to prevent the unacceptable humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons and risks this weaponry entails must be of shared concern, argues Ambassador Alexander Kmentt